འཕགས་པ་ཤན་ཏ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆན་པའ་སྡ་ཉ་མའ་སྙང་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད 12.5

12.5

he was boiled in those great hells. When he finally died and transmigrated from those hells, he was then born among the pretas, where he experienced suffering for many hundreds of thousands of years. After that, he again experienced further suffering among hell beings and pretas.

“Nāga, if you think that this person Arjuna—who became a renunciate out of fear of saṃsāra and then suffered in the three lower realms for such a long time after he died—was anyone else, then you should not think that! Because it is you who are afflicted by such strong karmic obscurations. From then on and for thirty-one eons, you have continuously been born in the three lower realms. Due to the residue of those karmic obscurations, you have now been born among the nāgas. It was you who experienced those sufferings and no one else. In the future, after you die, it is likely that you will again be tormented continuously by suffering among the hell beings, animals, and pretas.”

Utterly distressed, the nāga started to weep. He prostrated to the feet of the Blessed One and exclaimed, “Respected Blessed One, I confess all the faults I have committed out of foolishness, delusion, confusion, and lack of intelligence! I confess each of my faults! Respected Blessed One, I will embrace the vows willingly! I wish to be a lay practitioner of the Thus-Gone One! I will renounce killing for as long as I live! I go for refuge in the Blessed One!”

The Blessed One replied, “Excellent, noble son, excellent! Since you have gone for refuge in me with such determination, all the lower realms are now exhausted for you. After you die, you will achieve a human body during the time of Maitreya.